Back of the old fiddle tune, “The Belled Buzzard”, is a tradition which had its origins in the mountains. The story concerns a settlement along a river bottom. One bank of the river was bordered for miles by high un-scalable bluffs crowned with scrub timber, the home and breeding place of thousands of buzzards.
Hog raising was a source of income of the area. Mast from the acorn bearing trees furnished food for the droves of hogs earmarked and turned into the woods each year, to be rounded up n the fall ready for market.
One summer hog cholera broke out among the porkers. The buzzards, feasting on the dead carcasses, carried disease from one section of the county to another. There was an unwritten law that these birds should not be killed, but the farmers were aware that, unless some action was taken to check the spread of the disease, their hogs, together with their income would be wiped out entirely.
A meeting was called. It was decided to capture one of the birds and fasten a small sheep bell to it, in the hope that it would cause them to leave. One of the birds was accordingly trapped and belled. His arrival among the others created a great commotion and in a few days the flock of buzzards disappeared, only the belled buzzard remaining. Finally he, too, took flight.
At the end of the summer there was an epidemic of typhoid fever in the area, many dying. About this time the belled buzzard reappeared, the tinkle of his bell being plainly heard as he soared about the farms. He came and went time after time and always following his reappearance some sort of calamity happened. The return of the belled bird aroused apprehension in the minds of the more superstitious and his presence became associated with their misfortunes. They believed the repulsive fowl was possessed of an evil spirit. Many believe he still roams the skies, as belled buzzard casts a spell of gloom over them.
The tune “The Belled Buzzard” has been handed down through the years with this tradition, the plucking of the fiddle string in certain places in the music representing the tinkle of his bell!